University
of Rome III _ School of Humanities _
Degree in Languages and International Communication |
Academic Year: 2005-06 _ Course convener: Patrick Boylan _ Email: patrick @ boylan.it _ Folder: 5_III-1 |
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III
Third Year
English for English majors (M-Z) |
Module: “Methodologies for the study of contemporary English” |
click
on the orangedots
cliccare
sui puntini
rossi
N.B.
I programmi dei moduli
offerti nel 2005-06 non sono più materia d'esame dopo febbraio
2009;
non verranno più conservati dopo tale data i compiti
svolti dagli studenti né i relativi voti assegnati.
"Credito
di Laboratorio", Istruzioni: cliccare>:
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Mondays
and Fridays, 12-2 pm, Room B |
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Students' |
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Avviso
riguardante l'esonero del 21 e del 24 aprile:
This message from a student plus my answer, in Italian, appear below so that everyone is sure to read them STUDENT:
>Volevo
farLe una domanda.
MY ANSWER: Sì.
Ma non vorrei che tutti facessero l'esame domani e poi tutti di nuovo a giugno. Mica voglio dovere correggere 180 compiti (1° e 3° anno) due volte!
Quindi aggiungo come regola che se fai la prova a giungo, devi tenere il voto a giungo, anche qualora fosse più basso del voto che prendi alla prova domani. Questo per scoraggiare la gente dal dire "Faccio anche la prova a giugno, intanto non ho niente da perdere."
Quindi fa pure la prova domani, ma pensaci due volte prima di farla a giugno!
p
Would
you like to spend an evening at the theater (in Italian) with 10
Trinity college students? In
the same vein...
Causa superamento del numero di assenze consentite (3) per il Modulo, i seguenti nominativi: LL Iacopo Vannicelli, LL Emanuela Nardi, LL Serena Marioni, LL Alessio De Angelis, LL Marta Falasconi, LL Giusi Natascia Drago sono stati rimossi dalla database degli studenti frequentanti e acquisiscono dunque lo status di studenti non-frequentanti. Non sarà possibile per questi studenti dare l'esonero il 21/24 aprile (l'eventuale voto non potrebbe essere registrato) ma possono invece dare l'esame officiale sul programma previsto nell'Ordine degli Studi il 22.6.06 (previo superamento della prova Lettori che inizia il 6.6.06). Qualora ci fosse stato un errore nel conteggio delle assenze, sono a disposizione per riguardare i fogli delle presenze. Per gli orari di ricevimento consultare www.boylan.it (cliccare su UFFICIO). Per eventuali comunicazioni: patrick @ boylan.it.
IMPORTANT
NOTICE: If you intend taking the esoneri on April 21st
and/or April 24th, please let me know. Many of you have asked me to
hold the esonero another day (not
on April 21st and 24th). I checked with the
presidenza: no other days are possible in the following
weeks because all the classrooms are filled, with the exception of
strange hours that many of you would not want to have (Saturday
morning) or during which I have other engagements. I
could, of course, eliminate two days from the schedule of the
course that follows ours, and use those days for our esonero:
but that course has already been reduced to only 8 lessons,
because of the room shortage. I don't want to reduce it to
only 6 lessons, which would not be enough time to build anything
didactically. These
students still have not enrolled! Please do so immediately: THE INTERCULTURAL ASSESSMENT
ASSIGNMENT: "HOW TO TRANSFORM AN INTERCULTURAL CRITICAL
INCIDENT INTO A LEARNING EXPERIENCE": CONGRATULATIONS TO THE
AUTHORS AND ACTORS OF THE THEATER PRODUCTIONS PRESENTED ON FRIDAY
TO THE TRINITY COLLEGE STUDENTS!
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*Partial exams: To take the “partial exams” (esoneri), you must enroll in this course (use the form above). But no booking is required since they are not "real"exams -- they simply reduce the study load for the final exam (for which you must book). Each partial exam you pass eliminates one of the texts from the final exam and counts for a part of your final mark. But only the final mark goes on your libretto. |
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Syllabus |
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Success
or failure in intercultural communication in English (both in
Native/Non-Native or Non-Native/Non-Native encounters) depends
only to a certain extent on the speakers' mastery of English
vocabulary, syntax and phonology. What are the other
communicative instruments that speakers need to master? What
parameters can be devised to describe the adequate or inadequate
use of these instruments? How can students use this knowledge to
guide their "permanent education" as
linguistic-cultural mediators? The
organizational aspects of the module -- requirements and credits,
evaluation |
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Handouts |
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<cliccare "Learning
language as culture" (in italiano) |
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Room B
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Overall purpose of course: see handout Learning language as culture |
3.3 |
Language = a “will to mean” (un voler dire) in a communicative situation, that is an emanation of one's “will to be”. It includes all behavior: speech which is verbal behavior, gestures, facial and bodily expression, management of space and time.... The sedimentation (in the mind) of multiple communicative acts produces a disposition to communicate in the future in a similar way. We call the verbal part of that overall behavior this or that “language” (using the term “language” restrictively). In other words, the sedimentation of speech acts over time produces a specific historical “language” -- Italian, English, Chinese, Hindi (again, we are using the term “language” very restrictively here). In other words, we develop a verbal language and expressive habits that qualify us (to our interlocutors) as, for example, a Romano de Roma speaking a typical variety of Italian and using typical expressive habits sedimented over the centuries but that many Italians still consider as disreputable, or as a Black speaking a characteristic vernacular that is an integral part of the family of Englishes but that many white Americans consider disreputable, or as an Eastender speaking another historically-marked variety of English that has spread from London to Australia and elsewhere but that many Brits consider disreputable, or as a cultivated New Zealander (as in the case of the professor in the film clip we saw...) attempting to be an R.P. speaker of English and thus a proper English gentleman, not entirely successfully. In philosophical (Aristotelean) terms, we can therefore speak of language as the essence of a communicative act. That essence becomes being through the actualization of the various behavioral repertories at our disposition (facial language, gestural language, verbal language, etc.). In other words, we use these repertories to give form to some kind of material (sound waves, body positions...) and thus to create the substance we call “utterance” (enunciato) which makes our communicative intent perceptible. But, properly speaking, language is not that substance (neither the material sound waves nor the lexicosyntactic forms, which grammarians love to study): it is the underlying essence. That essence is the particular communicative intent erupting in a particular communicative event (Saussurian parole, although Saussure was speaking only of the verbal repertory used) as well as the sedimentation over time of the characteristic features of those modulations of intent producing a disposition to express oneself in a consistent way – this is what Saussure calls langue (although he was speaking only of the verbal repertory used, which is the “outside”, not of what makes the verbal material take the particular form it takes, which is the essence of language). Learning English therefore
means more than learning words (or even words and “gestures”).
It also means learning the “will to be” that produces
the characteristic “will to mean” that native
speakers of English manifest (with with idiosyncratic and
cultural attributes that mark them as African Americans,
Eastenders, Kiwis...). Practical issues |
6.3 |
Notion of “linguistics”
(the systematic study of languages and “language”)..
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10-3 |
Question basic concepts communication
= establishing a relationship language = one's will to mean
(<one's will to be) Homework: Read “Learning to think Korean” and be prepared to explain one of the parts (indicated by a color). Decide in your group who covers each part – all the parts must be covered so some people will do two colors. |
13-3 |
Test on notions covered
last time. Result: almost everyone defines things as I do. |
17-3 |
The rationale of the
4-step Repair Routine (How to ask for a clarification): |
20-3 |
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24-3 |
Cultural differences between Anglo and
Italian university students in the classroom>
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27-3 |
Critique of first Research Task:
“Explaining the Kohl review using British Academic
English.” |
31-3 |
STATO ---------1-------------> ESPRESSIONE ---------2-----------> STATO ecc. Translation occurs not from expression
to expression but from one existential state in one
linguistic-cultural context, to a functionally analogous (not
simply homologous) existential state in another
linguistic-cultural context |
3-4 |
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10-4 |
Coming late to lessons Chatting during lessons Cheating on exams Copying homework |
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Marking Scheme |
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Italian school marking system: 0 |
1 - 3 |
4, 5 |
6 |
7, 8 |
(9, 10) |
Points for each Task completed: 0 |
1 |
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3 |
4 |
(5) |
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Here are the additional skits selected for the show on Friday:, besides Donatella Vincenti's “The Bed”: Group
D: Erika Tinelli's hilarious “Day at the Beach” |
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Make a Group List of Features of British Academic Discussion Style that the members of the group consider understandable, important, and easy to put into practice for the recorded discussion session. (Many web sites give such criteria. I give some below, too: you can use them if you don't find any others.) The group leader writes them on the back of the evaluation sheet: Click for the evaluation
sheet>
Then organize a group discussion on the text "Learning to Think Korean". Be active as listeners, interrupting for clarification (use gambits to be polite), backchanneling, focusing your gaze on the speaker. When it is your turn to present the paragraphs you have studied, use the British Academic Speech characteristics that your group has selected as important. After the recording the group leader will listen to the cassette and evaluate everyone: you can participate in the evaluation and offer your comments. You will be evaluated not only on how you speak as a presenter, but also on how you intervene as a listener using the 4-step questioning technique: Click
for 4-step questioning technique>
EXAMPLE
OF EVALUATION CRITERIA THAT A GROUP COULD INDICATE “Students'
delivery should accommodate to stereotypical UK informal academic
discussions. As a: FINAL NOTE: I will compare the group leader's evaluation with what I hear on the cassette. I will not change the marks given by the Group Leader, but if I think s/he was irresponsible, s/he will get zero (not the student s/he judged irresponsibly). I will ask any student who in my opinion gives a poor explanation of the text or has a poor delivery to RE-DO THE EXERCISE. Again, I won't change his/her mark, but s/he will have to do the exercise over, until satisfactory, for the mark to count. -- Patrick
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TASK
2 Make a list of questions and behaviors that, you could* have put/applied (1.) to Francesca and (2.) to me this morning, in an attempt to transform Friday's Critical Incident into an Occasion for Learning for both of us, based on real understanding of the other's mentality and sensibility. (At present there doesn't seem to be much mutual understanding.). *”could”
means IF YOU HAD BEEN PROACTIVE Use what you learned from reading the review of Kohl, plus Beamer's “cultural dimensions”, in formulating your questions and deciding your hermeneutic strategy. If you find that Kohl and Beamer are not enough (a very likely event), then you will have to invent an ad hoc strategy that you could* have applied this morning, March 20th. *”could”
means IF YOU HAD BEEN PROACTIVE Write
a short report (at least one page) in Italian in which you
explain the rationale of your questions and behavior. (“Behavior”
means that, this morning, you could have not only asked Francesca
and me questions, but you could have also interacted differently
with us, in order to understand the values and pulsions behind
our reactions Friday. Were they cultural (common with our speech
community)? Were they psychological (specific to us as
individuals)? This is what you must discover, PLUS a
strategy for helping us turn our differences into a constructive
relationship based on authentic understanding of each other.
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On the basis of our
theoretical description of the translation process discussed in
class (using the translation of an epigram by Burke as an
example> |
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THE
PROJECT
Testing
your understanding of the cultural mind set To
make the experiment more interesting, the native should be
a speaker of a
marginal variety of an "inner circle" English or ANY of
the Englishes
from the outer circle (second ring), as
described by Kachru here.
In a word, choose any native speaker of English who uses a
variety of English other than R.P. (British Received
Pronunciation) or G.A. (General American). (Again, if you have
already begun with a mainstream speaker, continue with what you
have begun.) Note: The laws of privacy do not forbid recording a person; they forbid making the recording public without the person's consent. You may therefore explain to your interviewee, after the conversation, that you have recorded it for a university assignment and that if s/he has any objection, you will erase the tape immediately, on the spot, In any case, you should eliminate from your transcription any indications which could be used to identify the speaker(s),) If you do not feel comfortable using a hidden recorder, then use the recorder out in the open. (Again, if you have already conducted your experiment and you did not record it, proceed with what you have done already.)
You
will attempt to provoke a critical incident with your marginal
native speaker, after having made a hypothesis about his(her mind
set and after having made a hypothesis about how to resolve the
critical incident. given his/her mind set. For
example let us imagine that you want to do the following
experiment: you want to ask her/him to select pictures of good
looking Italians, according to his/her cultural standards, and
you can try to provoke a critical incident by saying “Hey,
you are avoiding all the people who have long aquiline noses like
me, you are a racist!”. In reality you probably will
not succeed in carrying out this experiment because your subject
won't let you. Because of the observer's paradox, the subject
will probably force herself/himself to choose Italians with
longer aquiline noses than what s/he normally likes, because s/he
will automatically try to be cooperative with you and share (what
s/he thinks is) your Italian idea of beauty. Once you have decided on the incident you must then invent the remedy. And when both are ready, you can return and meet with your subject a second time. It is a good idea to have a recorder on, to verify afterwards what s/he says. (A videocamera would be best, of course, since body language is so important.) What
might the remedy be? In the example just given, if your
subject has the typical Anglo desire to sit at least 50 cm (and
usually more) from you, you could get her/him to see the positive
value of physical proximity. If you succeed, you can take him/her
to the Segreteria studenti and have him/her stand in line,
physically touching other people, pushing to get ahead, etc. etc.
(In Anglo queues, there are always at least 50 cm between each
person.) If your subject says that he has begun to like the
contact, you have succeeded in getting him to share the value
that at first was the cause of a critical incident with you, when
he began to feel uncomfortable while choosing pictures because
you started sitting too close. Finally,
you will write your report in which you describe your experiment
and draw your conclusions, indicating to what degree you believe
your experiment proves that you did understand the cultural value
that you tested.
Practical considerations for either project
“Where can I find native speakers of English in Rome?” 1.
Use the list of places you will find here >
2.
Use your imagination.
What
do you mean when you say “evaluate the scientific worth”
of our projects? To
what extent? This is what you will discuss after doing your
research on understanding another person's cultural mind set. The
bottom line is that a “scientific inquiry” is
“scientific, not because it “demonstrates objectively
the truth” but only because:
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TASK 3 – second
part After reading the translation
theory in the handout > |
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